(no subject)
1796
A dark dark man, in a dark dark place.
His fingers grip the chalk and leave white smears across his weathered hands. This properly calls for the blood of children.
And as much as he'd like to sacrifice one of his One in particular... they weren't of the proper age.
Goat's blood worked just as good.
Getting up, he held the animal carefully over the image he'd drawn before sliting it's throat in a clean motion. The goat jerked once-
And the blood was devoured.
It dripped into the chalkmarks, leaving no trace of his activities.
Now the chanting. Once in ancient Greek. Once again in ancient Latin. And finally-
"By the full moon and the bright son, by all the death that has yet to be and all the monsters yet to come I summon Mephisto! Come to me in the name of Set and Nut-the gods of darkness of ages past! You who are truth. You who are power. I have need of you!"
The circle flared once and a puff of smoke rose.
"....Hitler. Was just about to announce the final solution. Mao just put his wife in charge of the cultural revolution. And High Emperor Starkly of the World conference just flipped the switch on the button."
The devil appeared, as he always did, in strange garb, "You'd better have a damn good reason from dragging me from my shows buddy.."
Pastor Kale could only stare, "....What is a Hitler?"
"Promising.." No information. The Devil had mentioned such things frequently. Something about world wars, mass genocide, death and decay, "...I reiterate my previous statement. You had something you wanted to discuss with me?"
Pastor Kale's eyes narrowed, "...My son."
"...Which one? You've got two.."
"My son Noble."
"The troublesome one. Go on.."
"...He is proving exceedingly...difficult."
"Most kids are. I've got several." The fact that the prince of darkness could be so flippant really irritated the minister, "Ought to talk to my boy Blackheart. He's got promise, you'd better believe it. But that temper of his. I'm not one to promote families. Look at the last one I was in."
Pastor Kale's eyes narrowed, "Back to my son."
"The troublesome one."
"He has his eyes set on marrying...a girl."
"Shocking!" The Devil raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Next you'll be telling me he shits and eats and passes gas like the rest of you meatbags.."
The Pastor's eyes became slits, "A girl of questionable morals and ethics. A girl of ....an impure ethnicity."
"You know who had this same problem? God. "But I love Lillith Father!" "Like Fun you do. You marry who I tell you to marry. And to make it stick I'm going to borrow a rib and work my Magic." The devil grinned "Not that I'm complaining Mind you. If there was ever a woman who defined demon in the sheets it's Lillith, but I don't think Adam ever got over it. Eve was Always trying to impress him. That whole apple thing? Totally trying to get on his good side."
One did not loose patience with the devil. But they could come close.
"...I come to beg you to do something. To ask if anything can be done." Pastor Kale got to his knees, "He will shame himself. Shame me."
"The difference between god with his complex and you humans with yours, is that you don't seem to understand that you can't control everything. He-"
The devil grimaces. His eyes smolder.
"Does it without asking if it's acceptable. You whine and bitch when you don't get your way."
Pastor Kale's face fell, "Nothing can be done?"
"One of the things I was actually behind with the whole Eden thing." The devil murmured, "Was the concept of Free Will. You worked hard for that. You threw off paradise so you could be free. I can really get behind that. Especially since you folks are more prone to make bad choices then you'd think. It's like playing a game of chess, but I got handed half of the pieces before it started. All I have to do is wait. Bide my time before I checkmate that sorry bastard."
Kale's hands clenched into fists, "....You would have me profane-"
"Don't start that bullshit." The devil held out a finger, "You have profaned this place more often then I'd care to think about. You like to be throwbacks to when you were all monkeys don't you? you wouldn't remember it. "My tribe's better because I have white fur! Your tribe has brown fur. Yours has black fur. It is amusing in it's absurdity. I'm not about to put a stop to it. All the same, you want to stop the girl, you're on your own pal."
The devil began to fade, "...What should I do?"
"With free will comes imagination. " The devil's voice called back as he faded, "I suggest applying that to the problem."
And the Pastor collapsed in his basement, staring at the ground beneath his knees.
---------
The day that Nicholas Kale came into the world was a blessing. Moreso then his wedding day (and he wouldn't have believed that possible)
"If you keep squeezing the baby he'll wake up" Maggie murmured, smiling gently at her husband, "I don't relish
feeding him again."
Noble could only trace a hand along the top of his son's head, "...He's so small..."
"...won't be for long." Maggie kissed the top of her husband's head before wrapping an arm around his neck, "He fights like his father, and nothin'll quiet the boy but a taste of his mother's teat."
"...He's alot like his father that way too." Noble said, his gaze mischevious, "....My son-"
Fierce love clenched his heart as He raised a hand to his son's cheek.
Turning, he watched his wife move about the room of their cottage, "....I-I-" his cheeks grew red with embarassment as he crossed the room, setting their son gently down in his cradle.
Magdelena put down the pot she was washing, "You? You?" He was so akward she had to smile. It was endearing.
"...I feel like I should-should thank you." Noble spread his hands wide, "...I have everything I could have ever wanted, but My son, Our son, Our beautiful son..."
She sashayed forward, her eyes like twin gems and her smile cat like and white as the moon dawning outside, "...If it makes you feel any better, you contributed."
"-But you-" He could only study her body, "You-"
She covered her mouth with his, "You can thank me later. Does that sound all right?"
This kiss deepens and the baby wakes to his parent's delight.
-----------
Three Years Later.
Sundays are hard.
Magdelena and Noble Kale are good Christians, and they want their son to be a good Christian as well. Three years have passed, and Nicholas can barely sit still in church. But when Grandfather speaks, his eyes go wide and he listens with rapt attention.
Noble is proud.
Though after meeting, his father moves away.
"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith, father." Noble calls after him, "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" He holds his son in his arms look at me father. He had everything a good man should. His father's first grandson. Why was the man so cold? So Distant? He had not presided over their ceremony. Dante professed their father's desire to come, but Noble knew his brother.
Dante was a terrible liar.
He looks now. His look is filled with pity.
Pastor Kale turns to face him, his eyes hard.
"The Bible!" The Pastor cries, "The Bible Teaches us, "
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." He points at his son, "....This man not only mocks me, but shames me in the face of god. For I trained him. And he departed."
After the pronoucement, The Pastor turns and walks away leaving the hens he shepards to mutter amongst themselves and stare at Noble and his family.
---------
"It's me Noble. It's me who's the cause of all this trouble."
Just as the Pastor can be a terrible man when roused, she is learning that her husband has a darkness within him that cannot be fixed with simple love.
He says nothing. He only stares at the door.
"Let me talk to him."
Noble laughs, "...Why bother? He'll only quote scripture at you. And if he lays a finger on you," Noble's gaze becomes deadly, and the sudden change in character frightens Magdelena more then she can say, "I will kill him."
"I know how to talk to men. Even men who are masters. I'll talk to him. It'll be all right."
----------
Dante is a goodman of the town who plans to open a shop. He'll sell clothes. His girls will adore him. his girls.
Beautiful twin girls. Just babies. He knows how Noble feels. He understands. How can he not? He's his big brother. Dante owes his brother everything.
That feeling of bad comes back into his stomach Bad things are happening tonight..
He locks all their doors to his wife's puzzlement before going to sleep.
----------
What happens next is not entirely clear. Historians record the "Witch Scare" of the village as being caused by bad cabbage. Or perhaps something in the water.
This is not the case.
It is caused by a repentant woman who comes to plead for her husband and son. She walks quiet, a step she knows instinctively down to the basement of the church. No one comes here. Not even the Sexton. This is Pastor Kale's Sanctum. Fear grips her for a moment and it passes. You'll be reborn with the dead chile. Taoti had said before dying You have no reason ta fear any livin' man once you've been reborn with the dead.
She thinks of her husband and son and draws strength.
Only to open the door on a scene of madness. Blood is splayed across the ground. Burned, as if by an invisible brand, is a seal. The seal of Samael.
Behind that is the seal of the dark one-painted on the wall in dark red. The walls are earth-candles burn in each corner.
We don' truck with the evil one child. Taoti puts her knitting aside, Those who do end up with more trouble then they can handle.
Why Taoti? If we called him up, the White men couldn' whip Momma Cass no more. Jessie wouldn' be forced to work till his body bleeds.
Magdelena is nine and curious. She knows the stupid cards. She knows their plight could be fixed by what Taoti knows. She is a Mambo. A Priestess.
Whatchoo take me for? Taoti looks offended, I no Bokor! She points her finger at Magdelena's nose to emphasize this point, No sah. No darkness for me.
Why not?
Why not? Whatchoo mean why not?
The devil comes and collects the souls. A nine year old reasons, God doesn't do anything. Devil shows himself in all things. In death and such. He's more active. If we had him on our side-
Because we known him longer then the white man chile. We saw him watch Adam and eve leave the garden way back in the before time. I teach you how to read the cards and the stars. I'll teach you how to talk to Mother Nature and give her sweet love. But I only teach you how to see and guard against the evil one chile. I'll not teach you how to truck with him.
But if we called him up, the white man-
Taoti laughs, You talkin' vengeance chile. Spirits like that come and go of their own will. They dun come when they're called. Besides. The thing 'bout vengeance is, it'll wear itself out in time. Patience, is the way to make your way happen. Be patient. You'll have no need of the dark one then. And all will come to you. Some dun learn patience. More fool them.
She does not see Pastor Kale coming down the hallway opposite her. She only runs. Patience will not serve her now.
-----------
Dawn.
A dream rouses Noble from sleep. Grunting-he fumbles about for some sort of reality only to hear loud things Bang downstairs.
"...Maggie?"
Magdelena Kale does not speak. Shoving her son's cradle out of the way she pulls a piece of chalk out of nowhere and begins to draw on the floor. The movement startles the boy into screaming.
Noble is weary with sleep. His son's cries bring him to a heightened state as he lifts the boy from the cradle, "...Maggie? Maggie? Magdelena!"
Nicholas only sobs louder.
She draws. It's complicated. Swirls and swiggles. Flowers and trees. The good earth. The good earth....The good sweet earth-
"-put him back! put him back in the cradle!" She grabs their son from Noble's arms and tugs the cradle back over the spot, "Back! Earth. I need good dry earth!" She looks ready to bolt, "We must be ready! He'll come soon! He'll-"
She's gone mad
"...Magdelena!"
Noble's voice brokes no argument as he grabs her by his shoulders, "...What in the name of all things holy is going on?"
"....THE DEVIL!" Magdelena shrieks like a woman posessed, "The Devil walks in our town!"
"So he does."
The door banged open and lightning flashed as Pastor Kale stood in their doorway, Evil incarnate, "...And it was she who summoned him."
He pointed a long white finger at Magdelena.
A dark dark man, in a dark dark place.
His fingers grip the chalk and leave white smears across his weathered hands. This properly calls for the blood of children.
And as much as he'd like to sacrifice one of his One in particular... they weren't of the proper age.
Goat's blood worked just as good.
Getting up, he held the animal carefully over the image he'd drawn before sliting it's throat in a clean motion. The goat jerked once-
And the blood was devoured.
It dripped into the chalkmarks, leaving no trace of his activities.
Now the chanting. Once in ancient Greek. Once again in ancient Latin. And finally-
"By the full moon and the bright son, by all the death that has yet to be and all the monsters yet to come I summon Mephisto! Come to me in the name of Set and Nut-the gods of darkness of ages past! You who are truth. You who are power. I have need of you!"
The circle flared once and a puff of smoke rose.
"....Hitler. Was just about to announce the final solution. Mao just put his wife in charge of the cultural revolution. And High Emperor Starkly of the World conference just flipped the switch on the button."
The devil appeared, as he always did, in strange garb, "You'd better have a damn good reason from dragging me from my shows buddy.."
Pastor Kale could only stare, "....What is a Hitler?"
"Promising.." No information. The Devil had mentioned such things frequently. Something about world wars, mass genocide, death and decay, "...I reiterate my previous statement. You had something you wanted to discuss with me?"
Pastor Kale's eyes narrowed, "...My son."
"...Which one? You've got two.."
"My son Noble."
"The troublesome one. Go on.."
"...He is proving exceedingly...difficult."
"Most kids are. I've got several." The fact that the prince of darkness could be so flippant really irritated the minister, "Ought to talk to my boy Blackheart. He's got promise, you'd better believe it. But that temper of his. I'm not one to promote families. Look at the last one I was in."
Pastor Kale's eyes narrowed, "Back to my son."
"The troublesome one."
"He has his eyes set on marrying...a girl."
"Shocking!" The Devil raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Next you'll be telling me he shits and eats and passes gas like the rest of you meatbags.."
The Pastor's eyes became slits, "A girl of questionable morals and ethics. A girl of ....an impure ethnicity."
"You know who had this same problem? God. "But I love Lillith Father!" "Like Fun you do. You marry who I tell you to marry. And to make it stick I'm going to borrow a rib and work my Magic." The devil grinned "Not that I'm complaining Mind you. If there was ever a woman who defined demon in the sheets it's Lillith, but I don't think Adam ever got over it. Eve was Always trying to impress him. That whole apple thing? Totally trying to get on his good side."
One did not loose patience with the devil. But they could come close.
"...I come to beg you to do something. To ask if anything can be done." Pastor Kale got to his knees, "He will shame himself. Shame me."
"The difference between god with his complex and you humans with yours, is that you don't seem to understand that you can't control everything. He-"
The devil grimaces. His eyes smolder.
"Does it without asking if it's acceptable. You whine and bitch when you don't get your way."
Pastor Kale's face fell, "Nothing can be done?"
"One of the things I was actually behind with the whole Eden thing." The devil murmured, "Was the concept of Free Will. You worked hard for that. You threw off paradise so you could be free. I can really get behind that. Especially since you folks are more prone to make bad choices then you'd think. It's like playing a game of chess, but I got handed half of the pieces before it started. All I have to do is wait. Bide my time before I checkmate that sorry bastard."
Kale's hands clenched into fists, "....You would have me profane-"
"Don't start that bullshit." The devil held out a finger, "You have profaned this place more often then I'd care to think about. You like to be throwbacks to when you were all monkeys don't you? you wouldn't remember it. "My tribe's better because I have white fur! Your tribe has brown fur. Yours has black fur. It is amusing in it's absurdity. I'm not about to put a stop to it. All the same, you want to stop the girl, you're on your own pal."
The devil began to fade, "...What should I do?"
"With free will comes imagination. " The devil's voice called back as he faded, "I suggest applying that to the problem."
And the Pastor collapsed in his basement, staring at the ground beneath his knees.
---------
The day that Nicholas Kale came into the world was a blessing. Moreso then his wedding day (and he wouldn't have believed that possible)
"If you keep squeezing the baby he'll wake up" Maggie murmured, smiling gently at her husband, "I don't relish
feeding him again."
Noble could only trace a hand along the top of his son's head, "...He's so small..."
"...won't be for long." Maggie kissed the top of her husband's head before wrapping an arm around his neck, "He fights like his father, and nothin'll quiet the boy but a taste of his mother's teat."
"...He's alot like his father that way too." Noble said, his gaze mischevious, "....My son-"
Fierce love clenched his heart as He raised a hand to his son's cheek.
Turning, he watched his wife move about the room of their cottage, "....I-I-" his cheeks grew red with embarassment as he crossed the room, setting their son gently down in his cradle.
Magdelena put down the pot she was washing, "You? You?" He was so akward she had to smile. It was endearing.
"...I feel like I should-should thank you." Noble spread his hands wide, "...I have everything I could have ever wanted, but My son, Our son, Our beautiful son..."
She sashayed forward, her eyes like twin gems and her smile cat like and white as the moon dawning outside, "...If it makes you feel any better, you contributed."
"-But you-" He could only study her body, "You-"
She covered her mouth with his, "You can thank me later. Does that sound all right?"
This kiss deepens and the baby wakes to his parent's delight.
-----------
Three Years Later.
Sundays are hard.
Magdelena and Noble Kale are good Christians, and they want their son to be a good Christian as well. Three years have passed, and Nicholas can barely sit still in church. But when Grandfather speaks, his eyes go wide and he listens with rapt attention.
Noble is proud.
Though after meeting, his father moves away.
"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith, father." Noble calls after him, "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" He holds his son in his arms look at me father. He had everything a good man should. His father's first grandson. Why was the man so cold? So Distant? He had not presided over their ceremony. Dante professed their father's desire to come, but Noble knew his brother.
Dante was a terrible liar.
He looks now. His look is filled with pity.
Pastor Kale turns to face him, his eyes hard.
"The Bible!" The Pastor cries, "The Bible Teaches us, "
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." He points at his son, "....This man not only mocks me, but shames me in the face of god. For I trained him. And he departed."
After the pronoucement, The Pastor turns and walks away leaving the hens he shepards to mutter amongst themselves and stare at Noble and his family.
---------
"It's me Noble. It's me who's the cause of all this trouble."
Just as the Pastor can be a terrible man when roused, she is learning that her husband has a darkness within him that cannot be fixed with simple love.
He says nothing. He only stares at the door.
"Let me talk to him."
Noble laughs, "...Why bother? He'll only quote scripture at you. And if he lays a finger on you," Noble's gaze becomes deadly, and the sudden change in character frightens Magdelena more then she can say, "I will kill him."
"I know how to talk to men. Even men who are masters. I'll talk to him. It'll be all right."
----------
Dante is a goodman of the town who plans to open a shop. He'll sell clothes. His girls will adore him. his girls.
Beautiful twin girls. Just babies. He knows how Noble feels. He understands. How can he not? He's his big brother. Dante owes his brother everything.
That feeling of bad comes back into his stomach Bad things are happening tonight..
He locks all their doors to his wife's puzzlement before going to sleep.
----------
What happens next is not entirely clear. Historians record the "Witch Scare" of the village as being caused by bad cabbage. Or perhaps something in the water.
This is not the case.
It is caused by a repentant woman who comes to plead for her husband and son. She walks quiet, a step she knows instinctively down to the basement of the church. No one comes here. Not even the Sexton. This is Pastor Kale's Sanctum. Fear grips her for a moment and it passes. You'll be reborn with the dead chile. Taoti had said before dying You have no reason ta fear any livin' man once you've been reborn with the dead.
She thinks of her husband and son and draws strength.
Only to open the door on a scene of madness. Blood is splayed across the ground. Burned, as if by an invisible brand, is a seal. The seal of Samael.
Behind that is the seal of the dark one-painted on the wall in dark red. The walls are earth-candles burn in each corner.
We don' truck with the evil one child. Taoti puts her knitting aside, Those who do end up with more trouble then they can handle.
Why Taoti? If we called him up, the White men couldn' whip Momma Cass no more. Jessie wouldn' be forced to work till his body bleeds.
Magdelena is nine and curious. She knows the stupid cards. She knows their plight could be fixed by what Taoti knows. She is a Mambo. A Priestess.
Whatchoo take me for? Taoti looks offended, I no Bokor! She points her finger at Magdelena's nose to emphasize this point, No sah. No darkness for me.
Why not?
Why not? Whatchoo mean why not?
The devil comes and collects the souls. A nine year old reasons, God doesn't do anything. Devil shows himself in all things. In death and such. He's more active. If we had him on our side-
Because we known him longer then the white man chile. We saw him watch Adam and eve leave the garden way back in the before time. I teach you how to read the cards and the stars. I'll teach you how to talk to Mother Nature and give her sweet love. But I only teach you how to see and guard against the evil one chile. I'll not teach you how to truck with him.
But if we called him up, the white man-
Taoti laughs, You talkin' vengeance chile. Spirits like that come and go of their own will. They dun come when they're called. Besides. The thing 'bout vengeance is, it'll wear itself out in time. Patience, is the way to make your way happen. Be patient. You'll have no need of the dark one then. And all will come to you. Some dun learn patience. More fool them.
She does not see Pastor Kale coming down the hallway opposite her. She only runs. Patience will not serve her now.
-----------
Dawn.
A dream rouses Noble from sleep. Grunting-he fumbles about for some sort of reality only to hear loud things Bang downstairs.
"...Maggie?"
Magdelena Kale does not speak. Shoving her son's cradle out of the way she pulls a piece of chalk out of nowhere and begins to draw on the floor. The movement startles the boy into screaming.
Noble is weary with sleep. His son's cries bring him to a heightened state as he lifts the boy from the cradle, "...Maggie? Maggie? Magdelena!"
Nicholas only sobs louder.
She draws. It's complicated. Swirls and swiggles. Flowers and trees. The good earth. The good earth....The good sweet earth-
"-put him back! put him back in the cradle!" She grabs their son from Noble's arms and tugs the cradle back over the spot, "Back! Earth. I need good dry earth!" She looks ready to bolt, "We must be ready! He'll come soon! He'll-"
She's gone mad
"...Magdelena!"
Noble's voice brokes no argument as he grabs her by his shoulders, "...What in the name of all things holy is going on?"
"....THE DEVIL!" Magdelena shrieks like a woman posessed, "The Devil walks in our town!"
"So he does."
The door banged open and lightning flashed as Pastor Kale stood in their doorway, Evil incarnate, "...And it was she who summoned him."
He pointed a long white finger at Magdelena.